dcwave
04-19-2007, 07:38 PM
Last night I took delivery of a Presonus Central Station.
I had been using a Mackie Big Knob for the last few months.
They basically do the same thing - provide the "master" channel a full console would have; talk back, master volume, speaker switcher.
Some differences:
The CS is rack mounted with a remote.
The BK is a desk unit.
The BK has a big volume knob.
The CS not so big
The CS has a passive audio path.
The BK does not and after comparing the two, this is the BK's weakness.
Bottom line, the CS has a cleaner low mid range. This is something that I had been suspecting. I run a "B" set of speakers (Old KRK Rokits with new tweeters through an old Alesis RA-100 amp) directly out from my i88X. I noticed that the low mids seemed more natural sounding - when I would solo a bass guitar and switch between the two, the b speakers seemed more raw, the A mix via the BK seemed like it was slightly compressed - and I mean slightly, through a tube amp. The best example would be the difference between tracking through a DI box and use an older ART MP tube pre. Not nessesarily bad, but not really clean. I have heard the same thing from other BK users - the low mids seem to be "grainy", "fuzzy" "tube-like".
The CS was very clean using the same test, the only difference was the slight woofiness in the older KRKs when hitting an open E (this is due to the age of the speakers - pushing ten years. The new KRK V6IIs are nice and tight).
The other feature that was very suprising - the DAC. I am running via SPDIF from my 01x into the CS. I noticed a difference right away between the 01x, i88x and the CS DAC - clean smooth highs, and a slight improvement in the image. Highs sounded, well, higher in the sound field.
The knobs all feel good. The metering can be calibrated to your system.
The talk back is a little noisy, probably due to being a small omni mic in a rack, but you can plug an external mic into it and the noise goes down, even if using a small condensor omni. There is also a foot switch jack for the TB mic. The TB mic also dims the source volume when activated.
All in all, a nice upgrade both soundwise and space wise.
What would I change? The front to back length of the case could stand to be longer. Sitting in between the i88x and a Behery headphone amp makes the short form factor difficult to plug cables in or out when racked (yeah I know cable THEN rack). It's not even as long as some old compressors I have lying around.
I paid $499US AND it came with the remote which is usually another $199US
I think that if you have the budget and you need something like the CS or BK, choose the CS. If budget doesn't allow it, the BK is still usable. Mine's being used to prop the door open ;) (actually it will be for sale in a day or two).
I had been using a Mackie Big Knob for the last few months.
They basically do the same thing - provide the "master" channel a full console would have; talk back, master volume, speaker switcher.
Some differences:
The CS is rack mounted with a remote.
The BK is a desk unit.
The BK has a big volume knob.
The CS not so big
The CS has a passive audio path.
The BK does not and after comparing the two, this is the BK's weakness.
Bottom line, the CS has a cleaner low mid range. This is something that I had been suspecting. I run a "B" set of speakers (Old KRK Rokits with new tweeters through an old Alesis RA-100 amp) directly out from my i88X. I noticed that the low mids seemed more natural sounding - when I would solo a bass guitar and switch between the two, the b speakers seemed more raw, the A mix via the BK seemed like it was slightly compressed - and I mean slightly, through a tube amp. The best example would be the difference between tracking through a DI box and use an older ART MP tube pre. Not nessesarily bad, but not really clean. I have heard the same thing from other BK users - the low mids seem to be "grainy", "fuzzy" "tube-like".
The CS was very clean using the same test, the only difference was the slight woofiness in the older KRKs when hitting an open E (this is due to the age of the speakers - pushing ten years. The new KRK V6IIs are nice and tight).
The other feature that was very suprising - the DAC. I am running via SPDIF from my 01x into the CS. I noticed a difference right away between the 01x, i88x and the CS DAC - clean smooth highs, and a slight improvement in the image. Highs sounded, well, higher in the sound field.
The knobs all feel good. The metering can be calibrated to your system.
The talk back is a little noisy, probably due to being a small omni mic in a rack, but you can plug an external mic into it and the noise goes down, even if using a small condensor omni. There is also a foot switch jack for the TB mic. The TB mic also dims the source volume when activated.
All in all, a nice upgrade both soundwise and space wise.
What would I change? The front to back length of the case could stand to be longer. Sitting in between the i88x and a Behery headphone amp makes the short form factor difficult to plug cables in or out when racked (yeah I know cable THEN rack). It's not even as long as some old compressors I have lying around.
I paid $499US AND it came with the remote which is usually another $199US
I think that if you have the budget and you need something like the CS or BK, choose the CS. If budget doesn't allow it, the BK is still usable. Mine's being used to prop the door open ;) (actually it will be for sale in a day or two).